Keeper for electrical cords



3 1 5 R. B. HQADLEY 3,197 830 KEEPER FOR ELECTRICAL GORDS Filed May 1, 1964 INVENTOR NEYS I United States Patent 3,197,830" KEEPER FOR ELECTRIGA-L CORDS Rohert'llruce Headley, RED. 3', Amherstg -Mass. FiledMay 1, 1964, Ser. No. 364,192 3 Claims. (Cree-=16)- The present invention relates to. improvements in keepers for electrical cords or the like.

One object of the invention is to provide a simple and economical keeper which may be conveniently employed to hold all or a portion of an electrical cord in one or more collapsed loops for shipment or storage of the cord or to shorten the effective length of the cord when it is in use.

Another object ofthe invention is toprovide a keeper of the type described which may be readily attachedto' the cord and which will be conveniently available after the cord has been used to hold the cord looped condition for storage.

These ends are attained by a keeper formed as'a onepiece flexible strap-like member having integrally formed means by which it i's attach'edtoa single-length or strand of an electrical cord. The cord may be folded or coiled into any desired number ofloo'ps forming a bundle of strands around which thekeeper will be wrappedto form a closedloop- Means are provided for re'leasably holdingthe so-w-rapped keeper in whatever sizeof closed loop is necessary to constrain-the bundled strands of the electrical cord. When it is desired to use the cord, the closed loop of the keeper is simply released; The cord having been neatly stored will be freeof-troublesomesn'arl's and the keeper will remain attached to the cord so that it will be conveniently available when it is again desired tostore the cord.

The above and other related objects and features of the invention will be apparent from a reading of the following description of the disclosure found in the accompanying drawing and the novelty thereof pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a keeper of the type referred to;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating the means for attaching this keeper to a single strand of an electrical cord;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating alternate means for attaching the keeper to a single strand of an electrical cord;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating the keeper wrapped into a closed loop to constrain a bundle of strands of the electrical cord which has been folded into a plurality of flat loops for storage;

FIG. 5 is a section taken on line VV in FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view on a reduced scale illustrating the use of this keeper to shorten the effective length of an electrical cord.

The keeper 10 illustrated in the drawings is a one-piece flexible strap-like member which may be economically formed by a stamping operation or by injection molding. It may be formed of many different materials, but medium to soft durometer rubber or vinyl plastics having similar properties are preferred.

The usual practice is to first attach the keeper 10 to a single strand of an electrical cord 0 (FIG. 2). Thus a tongue 12 is formed intermediate the length of the keeper and preferably is what can be referred to as an internal tongue in that it is spaced inwardly from the adjacent side edges of the keeper indicated at 14. The single strand of the electrical cord is placed transversely at the base of the tongue 12 which is then wrapped therearound. The tongue 12 is provided with an arrow-shaped head 16 3,197,830 Patented Aug. 3, 1965 "Ice which is inserted through a triangular aperturelS, spaced inwardlyfromthe base of the tongue'and pointing toward the opposite end of the keeper. This orientation facilitates insertion of the'arrow-shaped head 16 through the aperture 18'. With the: tongue '12held in wrapped relation around the cord c (see also FIG; 5-)- the keeper cannot be inadvertently separated from the-cord, although it can be' removed, if desired.

FIG. 3 illustrates analternate meansfor so attaching a-keeper 10 to the cord: c. A pair of-upwardly project ing, opposed arms or tongues 20 are formed intermediate (by the faces 22) and-then snapped over the cord strand to confine it on the keeper 10. Due to the nature of the tongues 20 the keeper 10' is preferably formed by injection molding.- Otherwise the following" description will apply equally to both embodiments.

Ashasbeen previously indicated, the present'keeper is employed to constrain a bundle of cord strandswhere thecordis folded or coiled into 'aplural-ity of fiat loops for storage or shipment. FIG. 4 illustrates'the electrical cord 0 folded in this fashion. The keeper 10 iswrapped around the-cordstrands which form a bundle intermediate the. ends of the loops, see FIG. 5.- The' keeper 10 is maintained in this constrainingclosed loop, by one end 24 being threaded through an opening or aperture 26* adjacent the opposite end. The end24-is-pointed to facilitate its insertion through the aperture 26. For a substantial distance inwardly of the pointed end 24 the keeper has a portion 30 with a cross section approximating that of the aperture 26 so that the keeper may be drawn into the size of a closed loop necessary to constrain the bundle of cord strands. One edge of the portion 30 has a series of notches or serrations 32 which yieldably maintain the portion 30 in whatever position it is drawn through the aperture 26.

When it is desired to use the cord 0, the end portion 30 is simply withdrawn from the aperture 26 and the looped portions of the cord may be unfolded with little or no chance of knots or snarls being encountered as the cord is extended to its full length. The keeper 10 remains attached to the cord so that when the cord is to be stored, it is immediately available to be wrapped about the folded loops of the cord, as above described.

The keeper 10 may be provided as a convenience feature by a cord or appliance'rnanufacturer. If the purchaser has no use for the keeper, it may be readily detached. Likewise, the keeper may be temporarily detached and later secured to the cord by the user to best suit his needs. For temporary storage of the keeper, a hole 34 is provided which permits it to be hung on a hook or the like. The hole 34 also facilitates gripping of the keeper as the end portion 30 is threaded through the aperture 26.

The keeper 10 can also be acquired as a separate item for the purposes herein described, as will of course be evident.

A further use of the present keeper is in shortening the effective length of an electrical cord. Oftentimes the length of an electrical cord presents a hazard, as it is 'novel and desired to be secured by United States is:

for a given distance from an electrical outlet to the appliance to which the cord is attached. This use of the keeper is illustrated in FIG. 6. The length of the end portion 30 is such thatthe closed loop formed by the keeper will constrain a few or even one loop, as well as the maximum number of loops desired to be formed in 'a given length of cord.

7 Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as Letters Patent of the 1. A keeper-comprising a one-piece, flexible strap-like member of substantially uniform thickness having an internal tongue extending longitudinally thereof intermediate its length and foldable from the plane of the strap-like member to be wrapped around a single strand of an electrical cord with said strand disposed transversely to and at the base of said tongue,-said tongue having an arrow-shaped head and said strap-like member having a 'triangularly shaped aperture adjacent the base of said tongue with the near side of said aperture parallel to the tongue base, said arrow-shaped head being projectible through said aperture to provide means for securing the free end of the tongue to the strap-like member in securing the single strand of the electrical cord thereto and means for releasably securing said strap-like member in a closed loop of variable dimension sufficient to constrain a bundle of strands of the electrical cord when the cord is folded into one or more flat loops.

2. A keeper comprising a one piece flexible strap-like member of substantially uniform thickness having an internal tongue extending longitudinally thereof intermediate its length, and foldable from the plane of the straplike member to be wrapped around a single strand of an electrical cord with said strand disposed transversely to and at the base of said tongue, and means for securing the free end of the internal tongue to the strap-like membet as it is so wrapped to secure the keeper to the cord,

and means for releasably securing said member in a closed 4i loop of variable dimension sufficient to constrain a bundle of strands of the electrical cord when the cord is folded into one or more flat loops. 7

3. A keeper comprising a one-piece, flexible strap-like member having intermediate its length an internal tongue extending longitudinally thereof and foldable to be wrapped around a single strand of electrical cord disposed transversely to and at the base of said tongue, a triangularly-shaped aperture adjacent the base of said tongue with the near side thereof parallel with the tongue base, said tongue having an arrow-shaped head adapted to be projected through said triangularly-shaped aperture to secure the free end of the tongue to the strap-like member to thereby secure the keeper to the cord, said strap-like member having an opening formed adjacent one end thereof, the opposite end of said strap-like member being pointed to facilitate its insertion through said opening whereby the opposite end portion may be drawn through said'opening to form a closed loop of variable dimension sufiicient to constrain a bundle of strands of electrical cord when it is folded into one or more flat loops, one side edge of said opposite end portion being notched to assist in releasably maintaining said opposite end portion in a given position relative to said opening.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,361,506 10/44 Smith 2417 2,723,431 11/55 Di Renzo 24-81 2,961,785 11/60 Toepfer 2416 3,130,462 4/64 Mitchell 2416 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,207,065 8/59 France.

522,646 4/ 31 Germany.

DONLEY J. STOCKING, Primary Examiner. 

3. A KEEPER COMPRISING A ONE-PIECE, FLEXIBLE STRAP-LIKE MEMBER HAVING INTERMEDIATE ITS LENGTH AN INTERNAL TONGUE EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY THEREOF AND FOLDABLE TO THE WRAPPED AROUND A SINGLE STRAND OF ELECTRICAL CORD DISPOSED TRANSVERSELY TO AND AT THE BASE OF SAID TONGUE, A TRIANGULARLY-SHAPED APERTURE ADJACENT THE BASE OF SAID TONGUE WITH THE NEAR HAVING AN ARROW-SHAPED HEAD ADAPTED TO BE SAID TONGUE HAVING AN ARROW-SHAPED HEAD ADAPTED TO BE PROJECTED THROUGH SAID TRIANGULARLY-SHAPED APERATURE TO SECURE THE FREE END OF TONGUE TO THE STRAP-LIKE MEMBER TO THEREBY SECURE THE KEEPER TO THE CORD, SAID SHAPE-LIKE MEMBER HAVING AN OPENING FORMED ADJACENT ONE END THEREOF, THE OPPOSITE END OF SAID STRIP-LIKE MEMBER BEING POINTED TO FACILITATE ITS INSERTION THROUGH SAID OPENING WHEREBY THE OPPOSITE END PORTION MAY BE DRAWN THROUGH SAID OPENING TO FORM A CLOSED LOOP OF VARIABLE DIMENSION SUFFICIENT TO CONSTRAIN A BULDLE OF STRANDS OF ELECTRICAL CORD WHEN IT IS FOLDED INTO ONE OR MORE FLAT LOOPS, ONE SIDE EDGE OF SAID OPPOSITE END PORTION BEING NOTCHED TO ASSIST IN RELEASABLY MAINTAINING SAID OPPOSITE END PORTION IN A GIVEN POSITION RELATIVE TO SAID OPENING. 